The GWR Class 61xx Prairie tank model dates from 1977 when it joined the Airfix range and two versions of it were made. It passed to Palitoy in 1981 and two more versions were produced for their Mainline Railways system. In 1984, Dapol acquired the tooling and also took over remaining Airfix and Mainline stock. With so much inherited stock, Dapol did not get around to manufacturing any further versions of the class.
In need of money, following the disastrous fire in 1995, the Class 61xx was amongst tooling that Dapol sold to Hornby in 1996. Following improvements to the model, Hornby put it back into production and have now produced a further 14 versions of it. The latest to be released is in BR lined green and numbered '4134'.
Model Railway Express
Run by model railway enthusiasts, Modelfair is an online shop specialising in new, pre-owned and collectable model railways. http://www.modelfair.com for friendly and reliable service.
For Hornby and spares for Hornby, Electrotren, Lima (HO), Jouef and Rivarossi visit www.hornbyspares.co.uk
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